Perkins student, Izzy, shares her first blog post today. Her English class is studying personal narratives and she submitted this post as part of her work for the class.

Being the only blind student in an all sighted school is very hard. When I was in fifth and sixth grade, I had and aid. My aid did everything for me even though I told her I could do it for myself. It was hard being in separate classes just for being blind.

I remember when we had to do projects on different countries. When my teacher handed out packets of information on our countries, I asked my teacher “Why didn’t I get a packet on Egypt?” This was the country I picked; she said "sorry we don't have one for you in large print". I didn't get a packet and that made me feel left out.

I had separate Math, English, and gym classes just because I was different from my other classmates. I didn't get the proper braille training because they didn't want to hire anyone to teach me. Instead, my OT taught me braille even though she had no idea of how to teach it. When I sat in the cafeteria no one wanted to sit with me because they thought that being blind was some kind of disease that they could catch. It is not. by the way. It is something that you are born with or as a result of something else.

Being the only blind student can be frustrating, but you learn to deal with it and learn to accept yourself for who you are and not what anyone tells you to be. Coming to Perkins has changed me in so many ways I can't even count them all. If you are someone who is going through what I went through, I can tell you from personal experience that there will be hard times and good times. Just remember that you are who you are and no one can change that.

The Total Life Learning curriculum was developed for students ages 3 to 22 who are blind, visually impaired including those students who have additional disabilities or are deafblind. The focus is on the development of life and career goals that enable student to maximize independence, self-determination, employability, and participation in the community.